Run Baby Run

Laying on my stomach on the cool sand I rested my head on my folded arms and looked up at Matt who had his hands behind his head as he looked up at the sky. My mind went back to what happened earlier, why does my mother want me? Why now? She never cared for me; as bad as my dad was, he always took care of me. I was taken out of my thoughts as I heard Matt’s voice,

“What are you thinking about?”

I exhaled deeply “Nothing”

He turned to his side, rested his head on his hand and took my hand into his free one. He stayed silent as he studied me and I gave him a weak smile in response as I sat up and looked over at the ocean. Closing my eyes, I breathed slowly as the breeze hit me making my hair flow with it. I opened my eyes and turned back to face Matt and found him in a sitting position. I slowly crawled closer to him and he pulled me onto his lap. I hugged him tight inhaling his familiar scent.

“Everything’s going to be okay, she won’t take you away” he whispered.

“I know but its just that… I have this bad feeling about something”

“Don’t worry about it, you should be thinking about other stuff”

“Like…”

“Your birthday is this Friday”

I laughed lightly “How about not” Rearranging my position so that we were face to face he looked dumbfounded. “I don’t like celebrating I guess, I don’t know”

“Belz, you’re turning 18, you have to party your ass off and besides I already made plans”

“Are you serious?” I asked hoping that he was just playing around.

He nodded “Yes, I am and do you know what that means?” I shook my head and he continued to explain “You get to choose who you want to live with”

Realizing what he was saying I hugged him “I can stay here with my dad, the guys, and,” I kissed him and whispered “you”

He smiled and kissed me back “So any birthday plans?”

I shook my head “Nope, like I said, I don’t like celebrating”

He smiled showing his perfect teeth and tucked a strand of my hair away “Well after we do the little thing I have planned we can just spend the rest of the night together”

“Sounds good to me” I sighed “I’m thinking about skipping Friday”

He quickly shook his head in disapproval “No, you have to go”

Thinking he was up to something, I tested his answer “Why?”

“Because, you just have too”

“I don’t have too” I said giving him an innocent look. He laughed and responded,

“Yes you do and stop giving me that look because you are far from it”

I laughed lightly “And you would know?”

He nodded “Oh yeah”

Feeling weird I stood up, brushed off the sand that was on my pants and looked at Matt “Do you want ice cream?”

Looking at me as if I was insane he chuckled “It’s like 65 degrees out, we are on the beach and now you want ice cream” In response I simply nodded and he continued “Do you really want ice cream?”

“Do you?” I asked hoping he would answer correctly.

He studied me silently and then laughed “Oh I do” He stood up and then looked around “Now that’s ironic”

“What?”

He pointed to the store in front of us “There’s Ben & Jerry’s right in front of us”

I smirked “I knew it, it was a calling”

We linked hands and walked across the street to the ice cream shop. As we hurried inside the shop we were welcomed with cold air making our cheeks rosy. We walked up to the counter and I looked at Matt.

“What do you want?”

He shrugged “I don’t know maybe I’ll get a cup of Pistachio ice cream”

I nodded, looked at the flavors of ice cream and then chose one “I’m going to get a cup of Chocolate and Cookie’s N’ Cream” He was about to answer when he was interrupted by the clerk.

We got what we wanted and we sat down at a table to eat. At first everything was quiet as we started eating but then after a while we were talking non stop.

As I looked into Matt’s hazel eyes, I never understood why no matter how close we were he always seemed to make the butterflies in my stomach swarm. As he took a bite of his ice cream he got some on his face and I couldn’t help but start to laugh as he looked at me confused.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh nothing” I grabbed a napkin, leaned over the table and wiped his face. He started laughing,

“I’m surprised that you didn’t let me walk out of here like that”

“I was but then I knew it would come back to haunt me later”

“You are right about that”

I was about to answer when I was stopped by the ringing of my cell phone. I quickly fished it out of my pocket and picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Belinda, its dad, I need you to come home now”

“Why?”

He sounded nervous and his voice was shaky “Just come home and do not bring Matt”

Feeling my stomach turn I was now in fear “Dad, what’s going on?”

“Come home and do not bring Matt, okay?”

“Okay, I’ll be right there” I quickly hung up the phone and got out of the booth. “I need to go home, something’s not right”

Matt looked at me worried “What happened?”

I threw away the rest of my ice cream and looked at him “I don’t know but…but I think it has something to do with…” I looked at him in the eye and his face grew angry, hinting me that he knew what I was thinking “with Tony”

“I’m going with you” He said overly protective.

I quickly refused “No Matt, I cant let you get hurt again. It was my fault the first time and I wont let it happen again” I turned around and was about to start walking when he stopped me, grabbed me gently by the arm and faced me with soft eyes.

“Baby, I’m not letting you go alone”

I silently pleaded with him and then sighed when I knew he wouldn’t take no for an answer. I gave him a hug and he kissed me softly and then spoke against my lips.

“Don’t worry baby, I wont let anything happen to you”

We pulled up to the driveway of my house and it scared me due to the fact that it was dark and no light was on. I sighed heavily and I started to shake slightly when Matt placed his hand on my thigh and started rubbing his thumb in circles. I was no doubt consumed by fear that something happened to my father and it is, in fact, my fault. Closing my eyes in attempt to calm myself down, Matt tried to reassure me that everything was going to be okay.

“Don’t worry Belz, he wont hurt you. You want to go now?”

I nodded and then looked at him “Matt, I’m going to go in first”

He shook his head “No you’re not”

“Matt,” I whispered, “I have too”

His face contorted with fear and concern but he nodded in understanding. I leaned closer to him and gave him a kiss and then got out of the car; he quickly followed me out. I dashed to the door and unlocked it. I walked in and found the house dark and snapped my head in the direction in front of me as I heard a sound. I ran towards the kitchen but was pushed to the wall and I felt an uncomfortable feeling on the back of me head. I groaned in pain as I tried to get up but saw Matt hurry over to me.

“Shit, Belz, are you o-”

He was hit in the back with a baseball bat and fell to the floor. I screamed when I saw the murderous look on Tony’s face as he laughed sadistically. I went over to Matt to see if he was okay but Tony grabbed me by the hair and dragged me to the kitchen as he started mumbling to himself. My eyes widened as I saw my dad lying on the floor and two men sitting on the counter as if my arrival was being waited upon. I tried to squirm away but he slammed me to the floor and I whimpered as the pain in my back surged causing my breathing to shorten.

Tears started burning through my eyes but I knew that I had to hold them in because it would trigger more anger in his eyes. I started to crawl away when I was kicked in the jaw and my head snapped in the opposite direction allowing me to taste my blood in my mouth. My body was burning from the intensity of the pain but I knew it was just the beginning. The man that I remembered from the bar, the one who hurt Matt, turned me over so that I was on my back and started tying my hands together when he was stopped by Matt. Matt punched him in the face and instantly Tony and the other short man started hitting him non stop and I quickly got up despite how hurt I was and tried to pull them off Matt. I failed terribly when Tony collided his fist with my stomach and then threw me again to the floor. Hearing Matt growl in rage as he pushed everyone off him, he started punching them without stopping. Due to the fact I was on my back, I started pushing my feet against the floor pushing myself up to get away from the mayhem that was taking place in front of me. I saw Tony’s eyes darken when he lifted the bat once again and hit Matt before he and his friends left when I saw Matt fall to the ground. He hit the floor hard causing a loud thud to occur. I quickly crawled to him with each movement causing shocks to go throughout my body. I turned Matt to his back and started to shake him.

“Matt,” My voice shook. He groaned and tried to get up but then realized he couldn’t without help. I slowly stood up with the support of the counter and grabbed Matt’s hand. I helped him up and then rushed to my dad who was laying face up with his eyes shut.

“Fuck,” He held onto his head “Are you okay?”

I nodded “Yeah, but my dad isn’t” He was bleeding through his nose and his temple. I got up, rushed to the phone and called for help. I told the operator about my dad and Matt and didn’t mention a word about how I was injured. Matt looked at me with confusion.

“Belz they are going to take me to the hospital, why did you say I was hurt and you didn’t say anything about yourself?”

“I don’t need to go the hospital but you and my dad need to. Don’t worry about me I-”

“Yes I need to worry about you! This is the fucking second time he tried to hurt me and its not the fucking first time that he has hurt you! Why in the hell did you ever take his shit!? Why did you fucking stay with him when you knew that I liked you?! It’s not like our kisses didn’t mean anything before then! Tell me!” he practically yelled and I quickly took a step back. He never yelled at me or showed that he was angry at me. My throat tightened as tears threatened to fall and I went to my dad to see if he was breathing, and thank God he was. I let out silent tears as I hid my face with my messy hair as I looked at my father. I heard his voice again, but his time softer. “I’m sorry Belle, I didn’t mean too-”

“Its fine, you’re right”

“No I had no right to yell at you like that. I’m sorry, its just that I was mad at him and I took it out on you”

“Its fine” I whispered.

He took my hand and helped me stand up. I avoided eye contact with him because I felt like everything was my fault. Actually, it is my fault; if I just would have stayed away from Tony or just made him happy… He tucked some of my hair that was on my face behind my ear and positioned my face so that I was looking at him. He had that look of sincerity on his face and he spoke with regret in his face.

“I’m sorry” he whispered “I really am, I don’t want you to be mad at me even though you have every right to be. I just…” he exhaled deeply and locked his hazel eyes with my brown ones “I shouldn’t give any excuse for what I did because no matter why, it wasn’t right what I did. I love you, will you forgive me?”

I nodded and he hugged me tight and I didn’t let go of him. We waited for help silently in each other’s arms, all we wanted was to know that everything was okay and it would be…right?